Lakota Dawn (13 page)

On the third morning following their encounter with the white men, Nahemana met with Rising Bear and others to reveal, “The Great Spirit gave me a sacred dream on the past moon. I saw Cloud Chaser talking with Bluecoats and other Whites who hunger to destroy us. I could not hear their words, but next I saw many Bluecoats riding against the Lakotas.”

“What does the dream mean, Wise One?” Rising Bear asked without glancing at Chase, who stood nearby and listened as he waited to go hunting with his other two sons.

“I do not know; that is all I was shown,” Nahemana replied.

Before allowing others time to speculate, Chase ventured, “Our shaman saw me tricking the soldiers and Whites to learn their intentions against us and our allies, for I believe that is why the Great Spirit summoned me here. I have asked many times to go and steal their treaty words and plans, but I am forbidden to do so, for I am not yet trusted or accepted among you. How can we stop attacks and prevent trouble if we do not know from where and when it will come? At the fort, I could learn such secrets, return, and reveal them to you, Father.”

When Rising Bear remained silent and stoic, Nahemana said, “I will seek a vision on the next sun and pray for answers
from the Creator. He will tell us what we must do during this dangerous season and those to come.”

Two Feathers could no longer keep still. “He has given you answers, Wise One, but you do not wish to accept them, for Wakantanka speaks against the second son of our chief and it is hard for you to believe one from Rising Bear’s blood and seed can be evil.”

The worried shaman responded quickly to avert trouble, “Your words and feelings have not been proven, Two Feathers.”

“They will be soon, Wise One. I say we slay him to protect our band, for we cannot banish him to ride to them and join their side.”

Nahemana shook his head. “Cloud Chaser has done nothing to this sun to earn his death by our hands. Until the Great Spirit speaks to me in my vision or he betrays us, Cloud Chaser will stay alive and with us.”

“But he seeks to make white men of us.”

“No, my cousin,” Chase argued. “I seek to protect my people and to tell them ways to adjust in this new world which surrounds us. Who is to say if the Great Spirit did not create all peoples and make them different? Perhaps that is why many of the things I learned about the white man’s beliefs match ours, for I have told you about their Great Flood and how their Creator used one chosen man and woman to replenish the Earth and their people. Perhaps He gave each a territory, but when the Whites’ number grew large, they spread out into the lands of others.”

“You speak evil words, for Wakantanka did not create our enemies; they are the work of Evil Spirits.”

“How do you know that is true, my cousin? Can you see into the heart and mind of Wakantanka? Do you grasp all of His mysteries and deeds?”

“This is not the time to speak of such mysteries,” Nahemana said. “Go to prepare yourselves for hunting, my friends, for we have much to do.”

As the men dispersed to gather their weapons and horses, Chase realized that the time had come to take action.

* * *

When Hanmani came to bring Chase his evening meal, he told her, “It is as clear as the water nearby, my sister, I cannot prove myself here; and Two Feathers seeks harder each sun to turn others against me. I must leave to carry out the tasks which the Great Spirit puts within my heart and head, for only by doing them can I help my people and win their acceptance. I will leave while the moon rides the sky and go to Fort Laramie. There, I will get the treaty words and scout for my people. With that proof of my love and loyalty, I will return. Speak to Dawn for me of my love for her.”

“No, my brother, you must take her with you,” Hanmani whispered, “for Two Feathers will ask for her in joining on the next moon and she will be entrapped by him. She will go with you.”

Chase’s heart began to pound with a mixture of dread and excitement. “How do you know such things, my sister?”

“I heard my cousin telling his brother of his plan to do so. Perhaps he suspects your feelings for each other and seeks to hurt and defeat you. It will be useless for you to approach her parents, for they will not give her to one who is not a Red Shield; they will command her to join to him. You must call upon the Old Ways to win her: if you two sneak away and mate, when you return to our camp, you will be viewed as husband and wife.”

“You say she will go with me?” he asked, almost holding his breath in suspense.

“I am sure, for her love for you is great and she believes your Life-Circles must be entwined, as do you, as do I. Save her from Two Feathers and walk the path Wakantanka shows you to prove yourself to our people.”

“I thank the Great Spirit for warming your heart and opening your mind to me. Without your trust and help, I would be defeated here.”

“We must not allow Evil to
find victory
over Good; that is why I act as I do. I believe your
heart and
words are true and you are my brother.”

Chase knew he needed her assistance to carry out such a
daring plan, but he was concerned about his sister’s fate if her role was discovered. “What will Father and your mother do if they learn of your help? It would pain me to cause trouble and sadness for you.”

Hanmani took a deep breath before replying, “I will not reveal what I have done; but if they learn of it and ask me, I will not speak falsely. I must do as the Great Spirit tells me.”

“You are brave and smart, my sister, and I have much love for you. Surely the Great Spirit will protect you from all harm and will reward you.”

“The safety and survival of our family and people is the reward I need.”

“I will do all I can to obtain them, my sister,” he vowed, then made plans for his secret departure with Macha for later that night…

Macha’s heart thudded fast and hard within her chest as she sneaked toward where her family’s horses were hobbled with the others to graze during the night. Her parted lips dried swiftly as she took short and shallow breaths in the hot summer air. Her hands—clutching a small bundle of her possessions and food—trembled, her legs felt weak and shaky, and her thoughts spun with all sorts of imaginary dangers and punishments. She had escaped her sleeping family’s abode and had slipped from tepee to tepee without being discovered as she headed for her first destination. At the last conical dwelling, she waited to be sure no man was lurking near the animals, as the camp guards were supposed to be positioned farther away. Sighting and hearing no one, she crept to her horse, removed his leg bonds, grasped his neck thong, and guided him toward her second destination, where she was to meet her beloved and flee with him. She walked slowly and quietly, her head shifting from side to side and glancing backward to watch for intrusion. At the riverbank, she headed southward to join Cloud Chaser to begin a daring future with him, unaware she was being followed…

* * *

Hidden amongst many trees and with the light of a three-quarter moon, Chase saw Macha coming from a lengthy distance. He noticed and recognized the man who stealthily trailed her. He left his horse there and crept along the riverbank to flank him, using other trees and vegetation to conceal himself. When Two Feathers slipped behind a cottonwood nearby, Chase moved in soundlessly and rendered his target unconscious with a mild blow to the head with a small log. Using leather thongs he had brought with him, he secured his cousin’s wrists and ankles, bound him to a large tree out of sight of the camp, and gagged him with a bandanna. Satisfied Two Feathers could not free himself to sound a warning, and certain the man would be found by women when they came to fetch water, bathe, and wash garments, he hurried to join his beloved, made aware once more that his weapons—rifle, pistol, and ammunition—were in his father’s tepee; and he had only the borrowed bow, arrows, and his knife with which to protect them during their long journey to Fort Laramie.

Macha gave a sigh of relief and joy when Cloud Chaser joined her. She hugged him and whispered, “I feared trouble had struck at you.”

Chase smiled reassuringly at her and told her about Two Feathers. He saw her dark gaze widen. “What if another saw me and comes to halt us?” she asked fearfully.

“I studied the camp well, so we are safe. Come, my love, we must go fast while darkness gives us time to get far away. What more troubles you?” he asked when he noticed her worried expression.

“You take me with you because you love me and I was chosen for you by the Great Spirit, not because you seek to defeat your cousin and his quest for me, is that not true?”

Chase realized she needed confirmation of his feelings and motive before she took such enormous risks for him. He caressed her warm cheek and looked deep into her eyes as he replied, “That is true, Sunshine of my heart, for I love you and need you in my Life-Circle; it is what I desire and believe is the Creator’s will. This is not how I wish our joining to take
place, but it is the only way we can be together. I will never betray you or speak falsely to you. I must go to walk the Great Spirit’s path, but I could not leave you within the evil reach of my cousin.”

“That is good, for my heart beats with much love for you.”

“We will talk soon, but we must ride now. Do not be afraid, Dawn, for I will protect you with all the skills I possess and with my life if it must be.”

“As I will do for you, He Who Chased Me and Captured My Heart.”

They exchanged smiles and a brief kiss, which seemed to warm their very souls, before they departed to skirt the southern edge of the Black Hills and travel onward to Fort Laramie.

Almost simultaneously in the encampment the following morning, Macha’s mother was approaching Rising Bear’s tepee to see if her daughter was with Hanmani, and Broken Lance was doing the same to see if his older brother was with War Eagle or in Wind Dancer’s abode nearby when women discovered the bound and gagged Red Shield warrior at the river, as Chase had predicted.

As soon as he was freed, Two Feathers checked where Chase slept, grinned sardonically, ran to Rising Bear’s tepee, and revealed in a loud voice, “Cloud Chaser has fled, my chief, and taken Dawn with him.”

Many men, including the shaman and Wind Dancer, had seen the excited Two Feathers racing into camp and—suspecting trouble was afoot—hurried to where he joined Rising Bear outside his tepee and began shouting the news. All listened as the agitated man exposed the tale of how he saw Macha sneaking away from camp during the night, trailed her, and was attacked; he declared the unseen foe was Cloud Chaser, whose camp was deserted and whose possessions and horse were missing.

“We must pursue, capture, and punish them for this wicked deed. I will gather a war party to go after them.”

“Why do you say Dawn escaped with him?” Ohute asked.
“She would not do such a bad thing. If she is gone, she is his captive.”

“I do not wish to pain your heart, Root, but she did so,” Two Feathers told her. “She took her horse and carried a bundle with her. She sneaked to the river where Cloud Chaser was camped. They are gone. You must move our camp, my chief, before he brings Bluecoats here to attack us.”

Rising Bear knew the time had arrived when he must admit the truth to himself and others and speak from his heart. He could not allow Cloud Chaser to be hunted down and slain, or permit Two Feathers to rile the people against his son. “There is no need to move our camp,” he said. “If soldiers come to seek us, they would only follow our tracks to where we go. We will keep guards posted to watch for trouble, but I do not believe my son will bring it. There is a purpose to his actions and he will tell it to us when he returns, for he will do so. When that sun rises, I will embrace him as I should have done when he first came. He carries two warring bloods because the Creator and his father gave them to him, but he has done all he can to prove his Lakota blood is strongest. It was wrong and cruel of me to turn my back to him and to influence my people to do so, even for this many suns. I will not do so again, for he is being used and guided by the Great Spirit. I beg you to accept him, my people.”

“How can we, my chief, when he is evil and has fled to our enemies?”

“If Cloud Chaser is evil, Two Feathers, he would have slain you,” Nahemana refuted, “for you have challenged him many times. I was coming to Rising Bear’s tepee to tell him of another dream which came to me last night. I believe Cloud Chaser’s return is important to our survival. I believe his words to us are true and wise. In my dream, I saw our chief standing with only two sons and watching our people’s defeat. Next, I saw Rising Bear standing with three sons and watching our people find victory. It is a sacred message telling us to accept him as one of us. Perhaps this message was not sent to me sooner because our reluctance to trust him was meant to push him toward the path the Great Spirit chose for him to walk. I believe
he has gone to find a way to help us and to prove himself to us, not to betray us.”

Rising Bear nodded gratitude to the shaman for his generosity and wisdom. “Nahemana speaks the words which also fill my heart and mind. I believe the Great Spirit took away my second son, taught him many things about our enemy, and sent him back to us for a good purpose. I have much love, pride, and respect for him; he has been patient, brave, strong, and wise while we tested him. I say he is a Red Shield. Who speaks otherwise?”

“If that is true, my chief, why did he steal the woman I was to join?”

“You have not spoken for her,” War Eagle refuted Two Feathers. “Is that not true, Root?” He watched Dawn’s baffled mother nod agreement to his question.

“I was to do so on this very sun, my cousin. He took her to injure my heart and honor and to punish me for speaking against him many times.”

“How can that be so, Two Feathers, when he cannot see into your thoughts to know your plans?” Wind Dancer reasoned, as elated as War Eagle appeared to be by this astonishing turn in events. “He is my brother, son of my father; to speak badly against him, speaks badly against us. Why do you seek to injure and destroy him?” He noted a strange but brief gleam in Two Feathers’ eyes before his cousin concealed it, and when the man answered, Wind Dancer was convinced it was not the truth, or all of it.